AARON CRITCHLEY
@AFirePhotograph

Craig is a 27-year-old Anishenaabeg person from Kitchener, currently residing in Toronto to pursue studies in social work. Craig has worked with White Owl for the past summer, primarily at the Waterloo produce garden. Craig is known for his killer drum skills, his smooth poetry, and his incredible wheel-hoe ambition.

Undying Fires
By Aaron Critchley

We were here
Before 1492
When Columbus sailed the ocean blue
And was discovered by the lndigenous people
Lost at sea
The new world, new to who?

We were here, in longhouses and teepees
Cultivating the land, paddling canoes
Living with animals and trees
Mountains, plains, lakes, and bees

Not like a fire extinguished
We are still here, we will be here
Through colonialism and genocide
We've survived

Prevalence of a flame passed down
From ancestors on the lands
We've lived for generations

Knowing the past, is it fight or flight?
To know that we were here
The coals of ancestors still burn, hot
A history and past that can't be sold or bought
We were here, and still are.

Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island
Métis, Inuit, First Nations
Tobacco, Sage, Sweetgrass, Cedar
Fires burn bright in the dead of night
A beacon of hope, a guiding light
A sign of life, a show of might